BOSSES at Burnley and Pendle Travel are celebrating beating national targets set by the Department of Transport to get ageing vehicles off the road.

The latest Bus Quality Indicator figures reveal that the average age of bus and coach fleets in England is 8.4 years, slightly over the government's target for bus operators to get rid of vehicles after eight years.

But Burnley and Pendle Travel, owned by Harrogate-based Blazefield Holdings and with services running in Burnley, Nelson and Colne, has a far better record with the average age of the 75 buses used in regular public service only 4.5 years.

Commercial director Duncan Allan explained: "Burnley & Pendle is a relatively new bus company, created by Blazefield Holdings only 18 months ago.

"In that time Blazefield has invested more than £6million and has fully committed to Quality Bus Partnerships.

"The company has provided 43 new buses, including 25 single decks for The Mainline Quality Bus Corridor and 15 double decks for The X43 serving Colne, Nelson, Burnley and Manchester, with others for Route 152, serving Burnley, Blackburn and Preston.

"Each new bus is low-floor, wheelchair-accessible and fitted with digital CCTV internally and externally.

"The average age of the Burnley and Pendle regular service bus fleet is now only 4.5 years, which shows that our customers in East Lancashire are enjoying a far higher standard of quality bus travel than nationally".